Barbadian Husbands leads way
Published:Friday | July 8, 2011 | 12:00 AM
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (CMC):
Christopher Husbands led the way with a double on Wednesday's midweek eight-race card at Assiniboia Downs, which was dominated by Caribbean jockeys.
The young Barbadian jockey now has nine wins for the two-month-old season and is ninth in the standings, which is currently led by David Lopez with 33.
Jamaican Tyrone Nelson and Barbadians Rocco Bowen and Juan Crawford were also successful on the programme.
After Lopez opened the card with a victory, Nelson followed up with a three-length victory on the 10-1 outsider Ecton's Gem in the CAN $6,000 second race, going 1,200 metres on the dirt.
Ecton's Gem, a seven-year-old bay gelding, showed that experience still counted for something, when Nelson put him in a stalking position on the outside and challenged four-wide into the stretch before drawing away to clock one minute, 13.20 seconds.
Nelson now has 12 wins and is tied for sixth in the standings, along with Gustavo Ortiz.
Trailed
Husbands collected his first victory of the day aboard the 10-1 chance Gameshy, winning by 1 length in the CAN$8,100 fourth race over 1,500m.
He trailed on Gameshy to the stretch, where he advanced the six-year-old dark bay mare and rallied her to take over late for a time of 1:37 flat.
Husbands landed his second win by a head astride the 8-1 chance Sounding Lake in the CAN$12,000 sixth race, running 1,200m.
He prevailed late on the three-year-old dark bay colt in a time of 1:13.80, after being widest early, advancing four-wide on the turn, challenging into the stretch, and duelling on the outside of Double Clutch, under Janine Stianson.
Bowen collected his fifth win of the season, putting him 12th in the standings, when he steered the 2-1 favourite Taxi Fleet to victory in the CAN$8,100 third race over 1,200m.
He dropped Taxi Fleet back early, advanced to stalk the duelling front-runners from the outside on the turn, challenging four-wide into the stretch, before producing the seven-year-old grey horse in the middle of the stretch for the run to the line in a time of 1 minute, 13.60 secs.